I'm in my final year of my bachelor degree (Netherlands). In fact, I am resitting this particular class since I did not submit the portfolio last time. I have agreed to start writing my thesis today in collaberation with a business on the condition that I would receive a pass grade on the portfolio for this class that was due two weeks ago. I submitted it, fully following grading criteria that I found in the syllabus. Last Friday I would receive my grade.
I received 43/100. I needed 55/100 to pass. The grading criteria were very different from the criteria mentioned in the syllabus. In particular not a single word was mentioned in the syllabus about a certain chapter required in the portfolio worth 20. I and various other students missed that part.
It turns out the syllabus change was communicated in an extra class that I was not aware of. This class was not visible in my agenda. It was not uploaded to the Blackboard environment nor communicated by e-mail. The extra class was recorded and a link to the video was posted in a Slack environment that is not official.
I would be allowed to resubmit the portfolio 8 weeks from now, be graded 2 weeks later and then start writing my thesis. The professor (who realized the communication on this was poor) allows me to resubmit the portfolio as soon as possible instead
Meanwhile, I had to communicate this change to the company I would be collaberating with. They are, understandably, not happy. Moreover, this change requires me to enroll an extra semester and as such is quite a big financial burden on me.
What can I do? Can I appeal? If so, to whom? Will appealing be able to change anything? Depending on when I can possibly start my thesis, I may not be able to finish before the two-yearly thesis defence.